Never say Never

Never say Never

September 21, 2016

I have never been a runner. Every time I ran, everything hurt. I never wanted to be a runner. But something happened last year. My friend invited me to run a 5K on the beach in Encinitas. In a moment of weakness, I said yes. It sounded lovely, going to the beach. I could relax and spend the afternoon on the beach, and visit the town of Encinitas.

I started running a couple times a week to prepare. I didn’t enjoy the training, but I started feeling better. So I kept running.

Race day came, and I finished. My friend was a great encourager. I crossed the finish line, vowing to never run again. Some time passed, and I actually missed running. So I signed up for another race. But this time I felt I needed something more to keep me motivated. I signed up and joined a running academy. I started running with a small group of other beginning runners. Knowing there were others to chat with while running, plus knowing someone was expecting me to show up, helped keep me motivated.

The coach reviewed my running form and recommended a couple of modifications. A couple of minor tweaks to my posture and stride made a huge improvement in my ability to comfortably run further.

The members of the running academy encouraged me to sign up and run a 10K with them.

Why do I share this story? A couple of reasons:

Even though I never enjoyed running before, I tried something new. Even though I never wanted to be a runner, I’m enjoying the experience. I tell you this to encourage you to try something you never thought you’d enjoy

Having someone to chat with while doing something that you may find unpleasant, may keep you motivated to get the task accomplished

Having someone with experience or training review your current position, may provide you with valuable input that can make a difference in how you finish the task

If you apply reason #3 above to your financial picture, you may just find that having a financial advocate review your current financial position and providing you with some minor adjustments may make the difference between having a savings account and having too much month at the end of your money.